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COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2012

Cairo's problem with new realities

A new reality and an alternative reality are shaping up in Egypt. President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood appear firmly in control. Morsi seized on the killing of 16 Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai early this month — an embarrassment for the military and particularly the Supreme Council of...
COMMENTARY
Jul 25, 2012

China, Russia and Syria: the ghost of Gadhafi at the U.N.

China and Russia have cast three vetoes so far on draft U.N. Security Council (UNSC) resolutions aimed at tougher international responses to the Syrian's government's brutal crackdown on protestors and rebels.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2012

An Israeli strike on Iran would backfire

On June 7, 1981, eight Israeli F-16 fighter jets, protected by six F-15 escorts, dropped 16 907-kg bombs on the nearly completed Osirak nuclear reactor at the Tuwaitha complex in Iraq. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Defense Minister Ariel Sharon saw the reactor as central to Iraqi President...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 21, 2011

Overcoming disaster via cinematic therapy

Back in May, the rumor among cinephiles in the Japanese media was that the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) wouldn't happen this year. The mood was that it was too soon after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 to hold anything festive, especially in the visual-arts scene. All over Japan,...
COMMENTARY
Oct 14, 2011

The volatile politics of rice

A campaign promise that helped bring Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her political party to power in July elections is roiling the global market for rice, Asia's staple food that is now eaten by nearly half the world's population.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2011

Religious fundamentalism after the uprisings

Most analysts would agree that al-Qaida has not played a significant role in the revolutions sweeping the Arab world today, while remaining largely silent about the remarkable political transformation that is taking place.
EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2011

North Korea's 'chronic crisis'

North Korea is facing food shortages. International aid agencies report that the situation is dire, with millions facing the prospect of starvation in coming months without help. Even if those estimates are exaggerated, there is no escaping the fact that North korea cannot feed its own people.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2011

Radiation terminology numbs, confuses, varies by need and country

Ever since the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant began spewing radiation on March 11, many have struggled to understand the unfamiliar units used to measure it.
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2010

Palestinian kids versus the IDF

NEW YORK — The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is among the strongest armies in the world. According to Israeli Defense Minister Ehuda Barak, it is also one the most moral ones. One wouldn't know that for its treatment of Palestinian children.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 14, 2010

Pandas coming to Ueno part of bigger pattern

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government signed a deal with China in July to lease two giant pandas for 10 years for Ueno Zoo, which has been without a panda since the famous Ling Ling died in 2008.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2010

Sea Shepherd activist arrested

The Japan Coast Guard on Friday arrested a member of U.S.-based antiwhaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for trespassing in connection with his boarding of a whaling fleet vessel in the Antarctic Ocean last month.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 16, 2010

Help for Haiti from half a world away

A plain black bow adorns the coat of arms on the door of the Haitian Embassy in Tokyo, a poignant reminder to visitors of the hundreds of thousands who have died in the country since the devastating earthquake of Jan 12. It is a small gesture that belies the scale of the destruction wrought by the quake:...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2009

HRW chief working to change diplomacy

Kanae Doi, a 34-year-old lawyer, has always wanted to be on the side of the weak. As a director of the Tokyo bureau of Human Rights Watch, a position she has held since 2008, she is trying to change Japanese politics to protect human rights.
EDITORIALS
Sep 10, 2009

Some progress from the G20

The global recession may have found its floor, but efforts to ensure that the crisis does not repeat itself continue to be frustrated. That was the message from last weekend's meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers. There is consensus on the need to stop the obscene payments to...
COMMENTARY
Aug 19, 2009

A greater role in relief work for armed forces

Will Asia-Pacific armed forces find their role in national defense and security shifting significantly in the future as the effects of climate change caused by global warming intensify? If so, how quickly will it happen?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / GLOBAL ECONOMY SYMPOSIUM
Jun 17, 2009

Shareholders, workers and the community all profit from good management

The latest financial crisis, as well as the 2001-2002 Enron and Worldcom accounting scandals, are both linked to the narrowly focused criteria prevalent in the United States for judging the success of corporate management and governance, said Shyam Sunder, a professor of accounting, economics and finance...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 14, 2009

Is a national 'Manga Museum' at last set to get off the ground?

When it was announced in April that ¥11.7 billion had been set aside in 2009's supplementary budget to create a new National Center for Media Arts (NCMA) — a museum for manga, anime, video games and technology art — the news was greeted in the same way that most cultural-policy issues are in Japan....
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2009

Unbalanced bargaining game with China

SINGAPORE — The territorial dispute in the South China Sea — referred to as the Spratly Islands dispute — used to be described as a major regional security flash point. Although core issues remain unresolved, economic integration and globalization, since the beginning of this decade, have temporarily...
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 8, 2009

Japan charts a new course on refugees

Beginning in 2010, Japan will inaugurate a three-year pilot program to accept 30 refugees a year from camps nestled along the remote border between Thailand and Burma.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2008

Oddball summit has limits

HONG KONG — It is the best of times because leaders from developed and developing countries have gathered in one place, Washington, to try to rebuild a broken global system, and China and India are at last at the top table.
COMMENTARY
Jul 15, 2008

Guantanamo ruling may end the nightmare

NEW YORK — The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that recognizes the rights of Guantanamo detainees to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts is a serious rebuke of the controversial detention policies of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. It also may pave the way for the...
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 7, 2008

NGOs call on G8 to take action on tough issues

SAPPORO — After years of broken promises and ignoring problems until they turn into crises, it is time for the Group of Eight leaders to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk when it comes to climate change, poverty and human rights issues.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2008

Inflation caused by Ukraine's peg to dollar

KIEV — Inflation in Ukraine is skyrocketing. By March, it reached 26 percent per year and continues to rise. Although prices are increasing around the world, Ukraine's is extreme, twice as much as in neighboring Russia. Amazingly, instead of dampening inflation, Ukraine's central bank is stoking it....
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 12, 2008

Gambari's battle in Burma

SINGAPORE — The United Nations special envoy to Burma is coming under fire for failing to nudge the country's military rulers in the direction of real political reform. But it is wrong to blame the envoy, Ibrahim Gambari. After all, his mandate is from the United Nations and he reports to the U.N....
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 25, 2007

Whaling — for nationalism or science?

When it comes to whaling, Japan digs in its heels, as do antiwhaling nations and conservation groups.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 25, 2007

Whaling — for nationalism or science?

When it comes to whaling, Japan digs in its heels, as do antiwhaling nations and conservation groups.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Nov 5, 2007

Can new stock market keep startups in Tokyo?

Last week, the Tokyo Stock Exchange announced it was tying up with the London Stock Exchange to establish a new type of market in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Aug 27, 2007

Issues with U.S. hurt LDP

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been rocked by its humiliating defeat in the July 29 House of Councilors (Upper House) election. The LDP's loss was generally attributed to the government's long-standing mismanagement of public pension accounts, but in my opinion, two United States-related issues...

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?